Animorphs: Time to Change
by ProbablyMostly
Summary: When Cassie finds herself as the only Animorph not sick, she struggles to find a way to save a member of the Yeerk Peace Movement that she once befriended and to perform brain surgery on Ax before his time runs out. Meanwhile, the 10th Doctor and Rose find themselves forcibly thrown into another universe. Takes place during Vol 29 of Animorphs and Series 2 of Doctor Who.
1. Chapter 1

We can't tell you who we are. Or where we come from. It's too risky, and we've got to be careful. Really careful. So we don't trust anyone. Because if they find us... well, we just won't let them find us.

The thing you've got to know is that everyone is in really big trouble. Yeah. Even you.

Sometimes, though, there are people who are able to help. People with even stranger stories then us…

* * *

_Animorphs_

Middle of Volume 29: The Sickness

My name is Cassie.

Just Cassie. I have a nice last name, really. And I would give anything to be able to tell you what it is, because that would mean it was safe. That I was a normal girl, with a normal life. But I am anything but a normal girl.

And right now, I was alone.

My friends, the Animorphs, were all sick. And I was going to have to do a mission on my own. Make decisions, on my own, that could determine the fate of the entire human race. And I wasn't so sure I could handle that pressure, but there wasn't any choice. Because the Yeerks are here, and they had to be stopped, before everything we knew and loved was lost forever. You see the Yeerks are parasites, like tapeworms or ticks or all those other pests that we treated in my family's barn, also known as the Wildlife Rehabilitation clinic. They look so harmless, like big slugs. But they were so, so far from harmless. The Yeerks are aliens, and unlike those other, normal Earth creatures that I knew so well, they couldn't be treated with a pill. They crawl inside of the ear, and take control of you from inside your own brain. All of your thoughts, emotions, and feelings are theirs now, and they use them to try and create even more hosts, Controllers, for their fellow Yeerks. It's a perfect disguise, and it was why we have to guard our identities so closely. We'd never know if they were a human, or a Yeerk we were talking to.

It was hard, not to judge them. We were told they spread across the galaxies like a plague, enslaving and destroying as they went. But then I met Aftran, a Yeerk who wanted nothing more than a better life than that of a blind, helpless slug. She showed us, me, that there were Yeerks who would be willing to live in peace, given the chance. And now, she had sent word, through another Controller, whose voluntary host Mr. Tidwell was a teacher in my school, that she had been captured. That because of me, she was to be tried, and likely tortured, by Visser Three, the leader of the Yeerk invasion of Earth. If he, and the rest of the Yeerks, managed to find out through her the identity of my friends and I, we would be captured and enslaved ourselves, along with our family and friends, anyone we cared about.

The Yeerks would win, if that happened. We, the Animorphs, were Earth's last and only line of defense. Because of one fateful night, cutting through an abandoned construction site, everything changed.

We had been given the incredible power to turn into any animal we touched. Using this gift, we had managed to hold off the invasion, hoping that one day, help would come from the Andalites, inventors of the morphing cube.

Tobias, the boy who had chosen the life of a hawk over his broken human one.

Rachel, my best friend. Perfect, beautiful, and a warrior who I feared might be one day consumed by passion for battle.

Marco: smart, funny Marco, whose mother was a Controller, and who saw the world so differently than me.

Jake, our fearless leader, who I loved despite never daring to say so, and who made the hard decisions. Ones that I was going to have to make in his place, because all of my friends were sick.

And because the last of us, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, an Andalite from another world who's brother's dying moments had been used to give us a way to fight, was laying in my family's barn, concealed by an android named Erik, slowly growing sicker from an illness I couldn't begin to understand. From a diseased mass in his brain, that I had no hope of finding without possibly maiming or killing him. When his fever dropped below 91.3 degrees, I would need to perform brain surgery on an alien.

Ax was dying, and I had no idea how to fix him. There wasn't a doctor on the planet that I could trust, or who would even begin to know what to do if I showed them what would to them look like a blue-furred centaur with too many eyes and no mouth. And the clock was ticking. Somehow, I had to save him and Aftran. I didn't know how, but I knew this much.

I needed help.

* * *

_Doctor Who_

Series 2, Sometime after Episode 11

Hurtling through space, the TARDIS suddenly lurched sideways, knocking its passengers sideways. Frantically, the Doctor flipped switches, running about the consol.

"No no no no no!" He shouted, and knocked an already off-balanced Rose Tyler backwards from where she was clinging to the machine in attempt to reach another whirring knob with his foot. The TARDIS gave another aggressive leap, and the walls shook.

"Doctor! What's going on!?" Rose yelled, trying to be heard over the whooshing, whining, ruckus around her.

"There's some sort of temporal anomaly in the time vortex. The TARDIS is being pulled, but I can't get a reading as to where or when! Come on!" He yelled at the consol, pushing buttons even faster now, and pulled a large lever.

The TARDIS shaking only increased, and the noises became even louder. Suddenly, the doors of the police box fly open.

"DOCTOR!"

Hearing Rose's scream, the Doctor turns around just in time to see her sucked out of the TARDIS and into a whirling mass of space and time. For a split-second, he thinks of jumping out after her. However, the doors of the TARDIS are blown shut from the violent movements of the police box, and suddenly, without warning, the whole thing slams to a halt, throwing the Doctor across the floor. Quickly standing up, he begins pushing buttons across the consol.

"Where are we? Where is she? Come on!" He slams his hand on the nearby railing. "Give me something I can work with here!"

The TARDIS makes more noise, and the lights around the Doctor begin to flicker.

"No no no!" Pulling out his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor tries to boost what little power seems to be left. The screen in front of him flashes information in Gallifreyan, and few brief bits of information, before going blank. The TARDIS itself slowly dims its lights around him.

"Oh… this is not good… Earth, year 1998, California… Rose is nearby…" He pauses, and walks to the door of the TARDIS. "Wrong Earth, though. Wrong universe, even. Not good."

Opening the door, he steps outside, and looks around at a suburban neighborhood. Dusk was falling, and everything appeared to be quite normal, boring even. But something had pulled the TARDIS to this place, and he was going to have to figure out what… as soon as he found Rose.

"Let's see… we're looking for someone out of their time… should be easy enough." Fiddling with the sonic screwdriver, he soon has it on the correct setting, and the familiar noise points him the direction of a nearby home.

"Allons-y!" With a mad grin, the Doctor takes off running, towards the signal he thought was Rose Tyler.

* * *

Cassie

-Direct Quote from Book-

- _I rode my bike up Mr. Tidwell's driveway and parked it. Then I hurried to his front door. He swung it open before I had the chance to ring the bell._

_"Where are the others?" he demanded._

_"Sick."_

_"It's just you?"_

_"Yes. Me. Me or no one."_

_He hesitated only a moment, then he drew me inside._

_"So where should we do this?" he blurted the second I was inside. "Bathroom? Kitchen? Where?"_

_He kept touching his ear, rubbing his finger around the edge. He seemed totally freaked by what we were about to do. I felt like telling him to join the club. But I figured that would only make things worse._

_"Kitchen's fine," I answered. I led the way, even though it was his house. Even though he was a teacher and I was a kid. There wasn't time to waste on all that. I sat down at the kitchen table and waved Mr. Tidwell down into the chair next to me._

_"Now?" he asked._

_"Let's do it!" I said._

_It was Rachel's line. But Rachel wasn't there. Maybe it would bring us luck. All of us._

_Mr. Tidwell tilted his right ear toward the table. I leaned down. My eyes locked themselves on the hole at the ear's center. I couldn't look away._

_The opening to the hole began to glisten. Then a pencil-thin wand of wet gray flesh slid out. It wiggled this way and that. Almost as if it were tasting the air._

_Shh-lop. Shh-lop. Shh-lop._

_More of the gray flesh squeezed itself out of Mr. Tidwell's ear._ - End Direct Quote -

Suddenly, a tall, lanky man in a trench coat stormed into the kitchen. I saw Mr. Tidwell freeze next to me, and I began running through options in my head of morphs that might be necessary. The man, though, did not seem to notice the strangeness in front of him, at least not immediately.

"Well then Rose Tyler, I think…" It was if he finally realized how odd what was happening in front of him really was. Me, carefully watching a man bent over a counter top, Yeerk slug halfway out of his ear. His eyes though, lit up with curiosity, rather than fear or disgust or anger. Hopefully that was a good sign. Hopefully it meant that, whoever he was, he wasn't a Yeerk.

"This is new… Am I interrupting something? And have either of you seen a blonde? Rose Tyler, nice girl, tends to wander off at unfortunate times."

It was at that moment that Illim completely freed himself from Mr. Tidwell's ear canal and landed on the kitchen countertop with a loud plop.

"Oh that is very interesting! Never seen anything like you before."

Before Mr. Tidwell or I could even think to react, the man had run forward to look at Illim. His eyes were wide with excitement, and he spoke quickly in a British accent. But I couldn't let him know what Illim was. Controller or not, it was too dangerous for regular people to know about the Yeerks. Whoever he was, he'd be much safer if I could think of a good excuse for what he had just seen.

"It's… uh… just a grey slug. It was crawling on him. N-nothing to be worried about, we got it off!"

Mr. Tidwell snapped out his shock at the stranger's sudden arrival to back me up.

"Unfortunately, uh, yes, really. I was out gardening, and this nice girl offered to help get it off!" He nervously fiddled with his ear, rubbing the area where Illim had exited moments before. We needed this guy to buy our story, or the whole operation, the whole world, could be in trouble.

"Uh-huh… that is interesting…" He wasn't buying our story. I thought frantically for something, anything to say to get him out of here.

"So, uh, as you can see. Everything's fine!" I forced myself to grin, and I could tell it must have looked horribly fake. "Did you say you were looking for someone? I don't think she's here, sorry, maybe you should go look somewhere else?"

"Yes… but something is strange about this little bugger here…" Peering quizzically, he took a step back, and then I saw it. A strange, metal, definitely alien instrument in his hand. And he was about to point it at the Yeerk on the counter.

"WAIT! Don't hurt him! Please!" Mr. Tidwell yelled before I could even react. The desperation in his voice… I hadn't realized, I had been so preoccupied with saving Ax and Aftran, but it occurred to me now that Mr. Tidwell and Illim might actually be friends. It was strange, but hopeful thing to think. Even after everything that has happened, that there might still be a chance for our species to coexist peacefully... But right now there were much more important matters to worry about. The strange British man with what was definitely alien technology was still pointing his weapon directly at the Yeerk lying helpless at the table. His manner was not threatening, but I was very, very worried. Slowly, subtly, I began to morph, changing features that were easy to hide, hoping he wouldn't notice.

"Oh that is brilliant then! It's intelligent. I thought so! Alien, yes? Bit of expert on them; well… bit of an alien myself, but not important right now! Symbiotic parasite, is it then? Fascinating. Most humans from this time period I've met don't even realize the existence of aliens, let alone form this type of partnership with them. Why'd he come out? Seems a bit dodgy having him lying all helpless there. I suppose he can't communicate without being inside you, yeah? "

He spoke so rapidly; I could barely process what was coming out his mouth. An alien? Time periods? The morph was as far as I could take it without become very, very obvious that there was a half-wolf girl standing in the kitchen as well. Next to me, Mr. Tidwell, scooped up Illim, and allowed the Yeerk to climb back into his ear, clearly concerned for his safety, and unsure of how to react himself. The stranger watched with fascination.

"Wonderful! Humans, sharing their bodies with aliens! Oh the things I get to see!" He turned to face me, excitement clear on his face. "Do you have one in you as well?"

I reacted without even thinking.

"No, of course I'm not a Controller! Don't you understand how awful that would be?"

A throat-clearing cough behind me alerted me to the fact that Illim had finished reconnecting to Mr. Tidwell's brain.

"Sorry, Illim, but you understand what I mean."

"Of course," replied Dr. Tidwell/Illim, I couldn't tell of course, "That is why we are here."

"Look," I turned to the strange, now confused looking man before us. Confused, but still pleased, I noticed. It was exciting to him, not knowing… interesting. "The slug you just saw is called a Yeerk. They are a parasitic species invading Earth, taking on hosts by force, and basically enslaving the entire planet in a secret war. Illim and Mr. Tidwell," I gestured to my teacher, who had taken a seat at the kitchen counter and was fidgeting uncomfortably there, "are members of the Yeerk Peace Movement. They need my help, the Animorphs help, to rescue one of their members, a friend of mine, Aftran." _Which is starting to look even more impossible_ I thought to myself.

"Animorph, eh? Are you an alien as well? Oh this is brilliant, so many new species in this universe. Amazing how things can change. Not good about that invasion though…" He fiddled with his weapon, spinning it and looking thoughtful. "I suppose we'll have to be stopping that then. Right."

Pausing after his latest long string of questions (When did he expect me to answer them?) the strange man looked at me.

"I'm the Doctor, by the way. Last of the Time Lords, traveler from another universe. Something grabbed a hold of my TARDIS, and I lost track of my friend Rose in the chaos. Not a big deal, I know she's close by; the temporal energy is strong in this area. But once I find her, I think I might be able to help you with this invasion problem. "

I didn't know what to say. This strange person, alien, had show up, out of nowhere, and offered his assistance without knowing anything about, well, anything. But he said he was a doctor… an alien doctor! And I was running out of time, and options. I needed to know, right now, if I was going to be able to trust him. Without a word, I continued the morph. Fur spread out from my chest up my face and down my arms and legs… thank goodness the clothes I worn over here were close enough to a morphing suit to work for the transformation. I felt my bones shifting in my jaw, my already transformed teeth fitting in to place. I did my best to transform as quickly, and elegantly as possible. Morphing could look disgusting, even horrifying, but my friends always said that I had a knack for making it look nice. Hopefully, this stranger would think so too. If he was truly an alien doctor, then maybe, just maybe, he would know how to save Ax…

As I finished the final changes, I turned my now golden wolf eyes up to look at the alien who called himself the Doctor. He did smell… different. Not human, certainly. And I could hear, faintly, more heartbeats then I should. But he didn't make the wolf instincts nervous, either. It was an unfamiliar scent… and old scent. I don't know how to describe it. But I did know then that there was no way he was a Controller. No Yeerk would ever look at a morph and think anything but disgust and hatred. But his eyes were joyous, alight with excitement… with something else beneath them that might have been sadness. I wasn't sure, and I didn't have time to question it, not with so many people's lives at risk.

"Oh! That is just brilliant! Wonderful!" Before I could react, a glow came from his weapon, and strange noise that made the wolf's hair stand on end. But nothing hurt, or caused pain, and it seemed to be safe enough. With a manic grin, the doctor continued firing off questions. "Not a hologram or a perception filter. You've changed yourself on a genetic level. That is fascinating. How did you manage that? What planet are you from then? Can you communicate in that form? I should be able to translate most languages through the psychic link with the TARDIS."

{I can use thought-speak. I just have to direct my thoughts at you}. He was like a child. An excited child who had just seen the greatest thing of his entire life, and was dying to find out more about it. But with old eyes, I could see that now. An old child. I thought back to the Howler's and their simple minds and childlike innocence. Could he be similar?

"A psychic communication. Excellent. Perfect. Great!" He paced around me, practically skipping. Normally, this would have made the wolf mind nervous, but it seemed calmer than usual. It was confusing.

{I'm not an alien though. Just a human with access to alien technology that allows me to absorb the DNA of any animal I can touch and morph into it. The Andalites created it, and it's how my friends and I are able to fight in this war.}

"Andalites… hmm... I haven't heard of them either. This must be a very separate universe, a lot less parallels here. What happens-"

{I'm sorry. I don't have time to explain}. I had to cut him off. I didn't have time, and I doubt I had the answers to the questions he was going to ask. Using the morphing technology is one thing, but understanding it is completely beyond my grasp.

{Listen. Please. I have to go save Aftran from the Yeerk pool}.

I started demorphing, ready to go along with the original plan of acquiring Illim and using a Yeerk morph to get past the Gleet Bio-Filters.

{I would really like to help you find your friend, and I'm sure you could help us. But right now, my friend Ax is dying, and needs brain surgery. You say you're a doctor? Can you help him? He's an Andalite. I don't know anything about the anatomy…}

The morph began to finish, and I was standing once again, human, in Mr. Tidwell's kitchen. Mr. Tidwell, for the record, was handling things quite well, given how nervous he appeared to be. Things were not even close to going according to plan, and while I was used to this happening, he certainly wasn't.

"I know you just met me. But I need your help. Please" I looked at this strange British sounding alien, still mesmerized from watching the morph.

"I've never heard of an Andalite until just now. I'm sorry. I'm not that kind of doctor. But!" His voice became more enthusiastic. " I think I should be able to help you save your Yeerk friend Aftran. At the, uh, Yeerk Pool, you called it? Should be easy enough. I don't know much about the technology here, but the sonic screwdriver here-" the doctor flipped the alien metal… screwdriver… in his hands- "Should be able to get through just about any security they might have".

"You don't understand," Illim spoke up now using Mr. Tidwell's mouth. "My people will expect intruders. The Animorphs-" He gestured to me, and I nodded, "have broken in numerous times. The security measures will be intense, and they will be on the look out for any suspicious activity. And if they capture, you will be infested. Any information, any knowledge you posses, will be theirs. The Yeerk Empire will not hesitate to use you, and everyone you care about, to their advantage. If you are an alien, one with access to technology we don't understand, the risk is too great… even for Aftran's sake."

"Oh, well… I don't think you should count me out that quickly. I have experience fighting an empire or two. " The man who called himself the Doctor grinned devilishly, and for some reason, I trusted him. In that second, there was something in eyes that told me he was telling the truth, and we didn't have time to debate further.

"He can come, Mr. Tidwell, Illim" I grinned, trying to look more confident then I felt. I could be dooming us all, Aftran, my friends, the whole human race. "I might need back up, and he certainly seems to know what he's doing." I needed to be brave. Like my friends. I wasn't good at being brave, or bold. But there weren't any more options.

"There are going to be some things you're going to need to know, but I'll fill you in on the way, Doctor…?" I paused, unsure of what name to use.

"Just the Doctor is fine," he grinned, looking much more confidant than I felt.

"Well, just the Doctor, I'm just Cassie," I joked, trying to keep myself cool. More for myself than any of them, I repeated Rachel's motto.

"Let's do this!"

* * *

Rose Tyler

Rose Tyler had been in a lot of tight spots with the Doctor on their travels together, though none of them had been quite this _literally_ tight. She found herself pressed in between what felt like a wall and heavy, metal container of some sort… at least far as she could tell. It was dark, with only a faint light coming from across the room. And her head was throbbing, possibly from, she realized, being flung from the TARDIS mid-flight and landing… wherever she was now.

"Ouch. Geez. Where did that mad box drop me then?"

Rearranging herself out of the tiny corner, she stood up, squinting towards the light. She couldn't see past the light, but she could hear… something, outside of what she guessed was a door.

"Doctor! You here?" She called out, looking around. Her eyes were adjusting to the darkness, and it appeared that she was in some kind of storage room. Metal boxes were piled up around her. Walking further into the room, she looked at one sitting in the light, and saw that they were labeled with an alien language. After a brief moment, the TARDIS psychic connection took over, and the words were legible to her.

"Dracon Weaponry… that sounds dangerous." Turning, she gave one last look around the room to see if the TARDIS or the Doctor were here. "Guess I'm on my own then for now. Great."

Rose turned to leave, and slowly poked her head out the cracked open door into the light. She appeared to be in a long hallway; probably underground judging by the rough stonewalls. It was well lit from utility lights running across the ceiling, and appeared to be empty. A few more doors, all shut, were visible. Rose took a cautious step into the hallway.

"Hullo? Is there anyone there?" she called out, her voice echoing faintly down the corridors. Listening carefully, she thought she could hear voices coming from the left, and began heading that way. There was something… unsettling about this place, but she couldn't quite put her finger on exactly what. There was clearly something alien at work here, but without knowing, where, or when she was, it was hard to say if it was friendly or not.

"S'long as it's not Daleks or Cybermen, I think I'll be alright, yeah?" she said, to no one in particular. Up ahead, she could hear noises… hissing and something rather animal sounding. Or alien sounding, it was hard to say. One of the doors ahead of her opened into the hallway and gave Rose her answer.

A pair of what were clearly aliens, though none that she recognized from her travels, stepped into the hallway. One was quite tall, with a serpentine head and covered in scales. What was truly impressive about it, however, were the large blades coming out in intervals up and down its body. The other was, well, even by Rose's new standards on alien life, disgusting. Like a giant centipede, or caterpillar, it's had a large, tooth filled mouth with arms beneath constantly moving as if to shovel in food. Rose gave a brief shudder, but she wasn't going to judge too quickly. Neither alien seemed particularly surprised to see her, a human, here, so there was good chance they were friendly. She decided to take a chance.

"'Scuse me! Um, hello! I'm Rose Tyler; I'm looking for my friend called the Doctor. Can you help me?"

She definitely had their attention now. The tall bladed one stared at her and grunted words at her, simple words, as if it was difficult for it to talk.

"Don't know Doctor… Who you? Not supposed to be here. No human hosts here"

Rose wasn't sure how to answer that. Before she had a chance to think of a response, the large yellow centipede hissed more words, more questions at her. It was difficult to understand, but the TARDIS translation did its job still.

"What isssss your name and ranksss? Why hassss you come to thissss weaponsssss?"

The hissing, spitting noises coming from the alien's mouth were disgusting and Rose couldn't help but cringe.

"Rose Tyler… I'm a friend of the Doctor's. I fell out his ship, the TARDIS? I don't know where I am, sorry. Could you help me?" She wasn't sure if she was getting through to them or not, but began walking closer, hands spread in what she hoped was a harmless looking gesture.

"Could you tell me where I am, at least?"

"No Yeerk. Not host. You should not see us. Not be here." The bladed alien took a step towards her, and raised a one arm, pointing what was clearly a weapon at her. Rose took a step back, quickly.

"No, no! Not Yeerk, no! But I'm friendly, see!" she raised her hands above her head in a surrendering gesture. "See friendly, no need for that!"

Saliva dripped from the centipede creature's mouth, still moving frantically. "You come. Sssseeee Vissssser. He'll dessssidde what to do withsss you."

The serpentine head weapon carrier, covered in blades that looked dangerous in their own right, stared down at her menacingly, and Rose knew she wasn't going to be given a choice in the matter.

"Alright, alright. I'll come see this… Visser, with you, yeah? I don't want any trouble."

She walked towards them, arms still raised in surrender. The forced her to walk in front of them, and she knew she probably still had a weapon pointed at her back as they headed down the hallway. As they walked, she could hear the noises up ahead growing louder. It was then that she realized what the sound was, and fear began to fill up inside of her. They reached the end of the hallway, and large door opened up in front of them. Rose took a step into the large, open cavern in front of her. It was enormous, and as she guess, clearly underground. A large lake, with several piers jutting out into it, filled most of the center. Around it were hundreds of cages, guarded by more of the tall, bladed creatures. Each cage was filled with humans. Humans like her.

And they were screaming. Some were sobbing, begging for their lives. Children, adults, men and women, all it cages, or lined up heavily guarded on the piers over the lake. Rose didn't know where she was, or what was going on, but she knew this much- the Doctor needed to find her, and soon. Because this was not a place that Rose Tyler wanted to be stuck in for long.


	2. Chapter 2

Cassie

We had formed a plan. Well, more like modified the old plan. I had morphed Illim, a Yeerk, and took his place in Mr. Tidwell's head, with Illim riding along in a Ziploc bag filled with water. I sat now, using Mr. Tidwell's body to drive his car, as a Yeerk inside of his head. The Doctor sat next to me, chattering on about his adventures before this, through all of space and time, at least in his own universe. There was so much he had seen. And so many people that he had lost. He had not actually said that, but you could here it, in his voice sometimes, as he paused to cover up a moment of intense sadness. His past must be filled with dark things, just like my friends and mine are now too.

There had been a brief moment, after I had acquired Illim, where Mr. Tidwell looked to the Doctor. I knew what he was hoping then.

"I don't suppose you…?" Mr. Tidwell began hesitantly, looking at the Doctor.

"Ah, well… best not, no…"

The Doctor had looked a bit taken aback by the request, and I understood. This was a difficult situation and he was helping us, but to let me into his brain as Yeerk, so that Illim could stay in Mr. Tidwell's… that was asking too much. And I while knew Mr. Tidwell knew that, his bond with Illim was strong, in a way I hadn't realized until today. In a way that gave me hope.

It was that hope that I clung to as we drove to the local McDonald's. I was grateful for the Doctor's company, even though I had no idea if he would be as helpful as he claimed or not. And even though he was still terrified and worried, I could tell from Mr. Tidwell's thoughts, visible to me as a Yeerk in his head, that he was starting to think that this strange man who claimed to be an alien might just be useful. Listening to him helped me ignore how much I missed my friends in this moment. I was trying to convince myself that I could do this. Without Rachel's bravery. Without Jake's leadership, and Marco's wit. Without Tobias watching our backs, and Ax… I couldn't even think about Ax right now. I just hoped we'd find a way to save him in time.

The Doctor was grinning as we pulled into the McDonald's parking lot. He was a confusing person. He was excited by the idea of this mission, but not like Rachel would have been. I think it was the newness, the discovery of something he had never seen before, which had made him this happy. He certainly wasn't afraid, despite everything I had told him about the Yeerks and what evil they were capable of doing. But maybe, that was good. Maybe we had found ourselves an ally who, finally, could help us end the fighting, instead of just delaying things until the Andalites came to our aid.

"Right then! Where do we begin?" The Doctor was practically bouncing with excitement as we walked towards the fast-food restaurant's entrance.

"Are you sure you're okay with this? If they see your face, they won't stop until they find you." I said in Mr. Tidwell's voice.

"Oh I've been hunted across galaxies before. Well… never quite by any one like this. Well… actually there was that one time… It'll be fine! Allons-y!"

The Doctor walked ahead of me/Mr. Tidwell, in through the McDonald's door. I followed, and went up to the register.

"I'll have two Happy Meals," I said to the cashier. "With extra happy".

The cashier laughed half-heartedly, in sharp contrast to the Doctor's genuine chuckle. She had heard the joke hundreds of times before: it was the password to the Yeerk Pool entrance. The Doctor's genuine laughter, though, made me nervous. They needed to think he was a Controller, and so far, he wasn't doing a very good job of acting like a cold Yeerk on their way to the pool to feed. The next step, though, was what really frightened me. I lead the way passed the bathrooms and straight back into the walk-in refrigerator in the kitchens. As we entered the cold and shut the door behind us, the wall at the back of the refrigerator slid open to reveal a passageway.

{Move quickly,} thought Mr. Tidwell, {Or they'll be suspicious}.

I nodded, still unsure of how to communicate with the host body.

"Remember," I said to the Doctor, pausing before taking a step forward, "The Gleet Biofilters are programmed to destroy any unauthorized life forms. I'm guessing Time Lord isn't on their list, so I hope you know what you're doing."

He simply laughed, and twirled the device I had learned was called "a sonic screwdriver" in one hand. I took that to mean he was prepared, and stepped forward through the doors. At first, there was no sound, and I let out a sight of relief. Then suddenly-

BRRRR-EEEEEEEEET. BRRRRR-EEEEET. Unauthorized life-form detected! BRRR-ee…eee….

The noise died down almost as quickly as it began, but I could feel my heart, Mr. Tidwell's heart, pounding. I could hear a small, whistling electronic noise behind me.

"Oh that was a quick response! Sorry about that."

The Doctor still sounded pleased, despite the dangers ahead of us. I couldn't figure him out, but I was glad. At least there was someone here to be brave for me. He walked forward, past me and down towards a large stairwell.

"I reprogrammed their DNA databases," he continued cheerfully. "You should be able to get through in just about any morph you please now, provided no one bothers to check on the system anytime soon."

"Really? How…. Thank you." I realized I wouldn't understand his explanation, anyway. This was clearly technology beyond anything the Yeerks, or even the Analcites, had at their disposal, and it dawned on me that maybe, just maybe, we could get out of here without trouble for once.

{His technology really is impressive.} Mr. Tidwell thought. {Be careful, Cassie. If the Yeerks find out someone like him exists, they will stop at nothing to posses his power.}

He was right, of course. No one knew how ruthless and cruel the Yeerks were better than a Controller; even one who's Yeerk was part of the Peace Movement. But the Doctor's confidence was almost infectious, and I couldn't help but feel a glimmer of hope, for the first time since that night in the construction site…

The happy thoughts didn't last though. Because as we continued walking down the stairwell, I could here the noises, the shouts, the begging. Sounds that would, I knew, haunt my nightmares for the rest of my life.

The Yeerk Pool was not a place I ever wanted to see, even with the cheerful Doctor by my side. And cheerful was not a word that I would use to describe him now. Because it was clear that he had heard, had recognized the sounds that were waiting for us down below.

* * *

Rose Tyler

"Look, I'm not going to try anything? See?" The pair of aliens was forcing Rose to walk towards another building, and she was trying to stay calm. It was difficult, given that she was in a giant underground cavern, surrounded by screaming, crying humans. She spun around, hands still in the air in surrender. "No funny business from me. We can put the weapon down, yeah?"

"Quiet, human," the giant centipede hissed, squishing along on its many sharp-looking legs.

"Right then," she said, and kept walking. Up ahead, she saw a group of what appeared to be humans, who were talking to a pair of the tall, bladed aliens. Maybe her own species would be a little easier to negotiate with… as her alien guards led her past, she called out to them.

"Hey, you lot! Could you help me here? There seems to be a bit of cultural differences getting in the way, I can't make these two understand that I ended up here completely by mistake," Rose did a bit of shrug.

One of the humans, a middle age woman with mousey hair pulled back into a tight bun, looked over at them. A faint look of surprised in her eyes, she walked briskly over to Rose and her captors. She looked cross.

"What seems to be the issue?" the woman asked, looking back and forth from Rose to the two aliens. Unwilling to let the other two speak before she could explain, Rose jumped right into an explanation.

"So I ended up in your storage by accident. Bit of a surprise to me too, my friend the Doctor, his ship, threw me out while we were traveling, yeah? So as soon as I find him, I'll be out of your hair and on my way."

"Do you think I'm idiot? Do you think this is funny?" The lines on the woman's face were clear now. Stress had worn her out, and she was frowning severely. "Visser Three is on his way here, now, and if there is a single hair out of place, he will have all of our heads. What is your name?"

"Um, Rose, Rose Tyler? I'm traveling with the Doctor." Rose put on her friendliest smile, hoping to diffuse the situation.

It didn't work.

"Are you out of your mind? Have you been eating the oatmeal! What is your name, Yeerk?!" The woman looked incredibly angry, but Rose thought she saw where the confusion was now.

"Oh, no, no. See, I'm not a Yeerk, I'm a human. From Earth. Do you know where Earth is?" The woman, (Was she a Yeerk? Not a human? What was a Yeerk anyway?), looks exasperated now.

"Where did you find this imbecile?" she asked now, turning to the two aliens, one of which still pointed its weapon at Rose.

"It was in the weapons storage wing." Grunted the taller alien. The Yeerk? Woman? looked alarmed now.

"Look, I think we just have a misunderstanding," Rose tried again. She was getting nervous, trying to stay calm, but she didn't like how no one is listening to her. "When my friend gets here, you better hope he doesn't see-" she gestured to the screaming cages behind her- "all this, and decide to stop you-"

"Andalite Bandit!" The woman whipped out a smaller version of the spiked alien's weapon, and pointed it at Rose's forehead. "Why didn't you idiots check it? Did you even think of that? There might be more around! If we've captured one, Visser Three will promote us all! Think of what he'll do if we let it escape!"

The attitude of everyone in earshot just became incredibly tense. Two other humans (well they looked human, but now Rose was unsure) rushed over, weapons raised, and a pair of the bladed aliens practically sprinted towards her, the sharp knifelike appendages on their arms flashing. Suddenly, Rose found herself surrounded in every direction.

"Whoa whoa! Wait? What? Andalite? I don't know what you're talking about! Please, my name is Rose Tyler, and I'm a hu-"

"Shut your mouth, scum!" The first woman, who Rose realized now must be in charge of this… cave… practically spat the words at her, and then gestured to the two men beside her. "Take the Andalite bandit, and lock it up until the Visser gets here. He'll decide what and who it really is."

The woman stared directly into her eyes now, and Rose shuddered, unable to stop herself from feeling very, very afraid.

"If it tries to morph, kill it."

"No, wait! Please, you don't understand!" Rose began to scream as her arms were pinned to her sides, and she was dragged away.

"Doctor, can you hear me?! Doctor! Doctor!"

* * *

Cassie

"The Yeerks…" the Doctor asked, with a frightening calm in his voice, "How many people have they managed to enslave down here?"

I didn't have an answer for him. I didn't know myself, and I knew, as we turned the corner at the bottom of the steps, he was about to see it. Just how bad the odds were, how hopeless the fight was. And how important it was that we never give up.

Before us, the massive cavern that contained the Yeerk Pool opened. It was large enough to contain a shopping mall, and, in the corner, I saw construction equipment. They were expanding. It made me nauseous, just thinking about it. The pool below was surrounded by cages filled with crying, screaming, begging people, Hork-Bajir and human alike. If there was a hell on Earth, this was it. Beside me, the Doctor had frozen in his tracks.

"Are you alright? Can you do this?" I asked, concerned. We needed to keep moving. Who knows how long Aftran or Ax had? We couldn't waste anymore time.

"This… this is what you've been fighting against? You, your friends? Children, fighting against all of this?"

The quiet in his voice was like the pause between lightning and thunder, and suddenly, I felt a twinge of fear. Fear of the Doctor, and what his wrath might bring. And I understood why he had felt so confident before. This man had clearly fought and seen war. And it enraged him to see this, to understand fully what the situation was.

"We didn't have a choice." I said simply.

"This ends," the Doctor took a step forward, his eyes burning as he took in the sights before us. "This ends today."

I didn't dare hope that he could be right. For all of his confidence, all of his fury, I knew that the Yeerks were not something that could be easily defeated in one day. And today, I needed to save my friends, first, before I could worry about anything else.

"Doctor…" I began, Mr. Tidwell's voice trembling despite my best efforts to keep him sounding calm.

{We need to move quickly,} Mr. Tidwell's thoughts reminded me to focus, {We don't know exactly when Visser Three will be here, but it will be soon}.

He was right. As powerful as the Doctor's technology was, Visser Three was a force I didn't want to deal with no matter who was on my side.

"We need to save Aftran, first." I said, as much to remind myself as the Doctor. "She should be somewhere in the pool. If I go, and enter as a Yeerk, I should be able to find where they're holding her. If you can provide a large enough distraction, I can morph something useful and find a way to get her out of here."

_Hopefully in time to save Ax, too._ I thought to myself, and headed towards the lines at the long piers.

One pier, where Controllers waited peacefully to release the Yeerk in their head for it's necessary once every three days feeding. Another filled with sobbing, yelling, and sometimes even angry people, waiting for their heads to be dunked into the slime of the pool and a Yeerk to reenter, taking control of their bodies away from them once again. I made my way to the near line, and quietly took my place, trying to keep my face calm and emotionless despite the horror around me. In the corner of my eye, I saw the Doctor, his long trench coat flowing behind him, heading off towards a series of buildings down near the far end of the pool. I hoped he knew what he was doing, for all of our sakes.

{I hope we can trust him to do his part. Now let's do ours.}

Mr. Tidwell was trying to think calmly, but I was a Yeerk wrapped around his brain, and I could easily tell that he was nervous, terrified even. I couldn't blame him for that, though; I was too. But we had to do this.

As we stood in our place in the line, I watched in horror as person after person was freed from their Yeerk controller only to be dragged into the nearby cages by the Hork-Bajir guarding the lines. A young boy, screaming for his mother. A woman who didn't say a word, but stared defiantly ahead without making a sound. A Hork-Bajir who was kicked down and dragged back by two of his own species, the Yeerks in their heads forcing them to laugh at his pain. An elderly man who struggled in the Hork-Bajir's grip. Some had tears running down their faces. Others began to beg and scream. All of their begging was ignored, and they were each thrown callously into the cages to await their re-infestation. It took so much strength to keep the tears out of my eyes, to keep my face calm and uncaring.

_Illim and Mr. Tidwell would have to do this every time they visited the pool_ I realized, and felt a surge of pity for them both.

There was only one person, a girl about my age, in front of me now. I rearranged Illim's Ziploc bag in my sleeve, preparing to release him into the pool as well. I had to move quickly, once I was in the pool, to find Aftran.

The girl in front of me must have been a voluntary Controller, because she walked away from the pool calmly without any guards. It was my turn. I stepped forward, and bent down, ready to dunk Mr. Tidwell's head into the pool and swim out. But then, a voice echoed in my head, commanding and terrifying.

{Bring the prisoners! It's time I interrogated them both!}

Visser Three was here. And he said something about two prisoners! As I put my head in the water of the Yeerk Pool, I quickly released Illim. I began to detach myself from Mr. Tidwell's brain, and then I heard the Visser's next words, and my heart stopped.

{Aftran 942, the Yeerk traitor, and an Andalite bandit! Today we will put a stop to two great… annoyances… to the Yeerk Empire!}

I quickly reattached to the neurons in Mr. Tidwell's brain, and forced his head up out of the water.

{Cassie! What are you doing?!}

Mr. Tidwell's thoughts shouted out, but I ignored him. Who had they captured? Which on of us, in our sick delirium, had said something to reveal our cause? Had Tom heard Jake say something while he slept? I had to know, I had to save them!

I turned my head quickly to look over towards where Visser Three, in his stolen Andalite body, stood gloating at the edge of the Yeerk pool. He looked triumphant and joyous. With horror, I saw someone lift a box out of the Yeerk pool that must have contained Aftran. I started walking, quickly, down the pier and towards where they stood. But then I froze. Because coming out of nearby building, there was a young blonde girl being led by two Hork-Bajir Controllers, Dracon Beams aimed carefully at her back, towards the Visser.

They had Rachel.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:**

I tried to take some of the critiques I've gotten so far and apply them to this chapter to improve my writing. I love to hear what people think, especially their thoughts on how to improve even more. Also, when I was writing this chapter, I noticed some typos in Chapter 2 that I had missed the first time through, and so I fixed those as well. There was a bit that I missed with the Doctor and Cassie in the beginning that made no sense because I left out some words there.

* * *

Cassie

It took every ounce of control I had in me to not start sprinting towards Rachel and Aftran. What had happened? How had they found her? Were the others safe? I couldn't waste time, and I had to appear casual. Taking a deep breath, I walked Mr. Tidwell's body towards the edge of the cavern, looking for a place to slip out of his body and demorph.

{So, my Andalite bandit… strange that you would chose such a weak, human morph to come here!}

Visser Three's laugh echoed in my head. We'd have to move quickly. I didn't want to know what he had in store for Rachel and Aftran.

{Ha! Don't lie to me! I can easily put a Yeerk in your head, Andalite scum, and know exactly what you're thinking!}

I struggled to think. What would Jake do? What would any of them do? I wasn't the planner. My actions were usually motivated by feelings. My understanding of people was where my strength lay. But there was no way to use that to save Rachel or Aftran. I understood Visser Three plenty well enough. I understood that there would be no reasoning with him, only a fight. Would we survive?

{Mr. Tidwell, I think we're going to need a change of plans}

{What can we do now? Do you have an idea?}

{Yes.}

I was lying. I had no clue how to handle this, besides demorphing and remorphing something dangerous as fast as I could. And even that might not be enough. If Rachel were to be infested, whatever Yeerk was inside her brain would instantly be able to tell the Visser everything he would need to know to find all of my friends and family.

At this point, I was relying on the man who called himself the Doctor to think of something, and fast. Because all of our lives depended on this stranger who claimed to be from another time and place, and I was trying so hard not to panic about that.

{I have a brilliant idea!}

The Visser was practically crowing with excitement.

{Aftran 942, you have a chance to be useful to the Yeerk Empire after all! Enter the Andalite scum's brain. I can torture you both at once, and find out everything I need to know about both the rest of the Andalite bandits' locations, and the traitorous "Peace Movement". And when you have told me everything this most useful body knows, I'll rip you out of its head, and give it to a much, much more worthy Yeerk!}

I, well, Mr. Tidwell, opened a door near one of the buildings that I could see in Mr. Tidwell's memories was just a storage closet for cleaning supplies. Mr. Tidwell sat down on an upside down mop bucket, and began to work my way out of his cranium to the ear canal. He tilted his head near the ground, and with Schlop! I landed on the floor. Almost as soon as I hit, I began to demorph.

{You need to get out of here, quickly}

I thought-spoke to Mr. Tidwell as my legs and arm bones began to appear. My ears popped out of the sides of the Yeerk 'head' while my hair sprouted from the top.

{This isn't going to be pretty}.

"I know."

The demorph was almost complete, and I looked up at him as the Yeerk mucus dissolved away into my skin with a strange, slurping sensation. He nodded at me solemnly.

"We better hope we were right to trust this Doctor, and that he really does know what he's doing. Good luck to you both."

I returned his nod even as I started morphing again. The others, even Ax, had always told me I had a gift for morphing, and I was never more grateful that I was right now for that. Morphing this quickly was exhausting, even for me. But there wasn't time to worry about that now. My face began to stretch out, and my body began to bulk up as my skin turned leathery and grey. The African Elephant was not my preferred morph, but in this case, I needed as much brute strength as I could get. And besides… maybe using Rachel's preferred battle morph would lend me some of her courage.

The closet was rapidly becoming too small for me, and I pushed the door open with my half-formed trunk as my ears began to spread out rapidly. Elephants have quite sensitive hearing, unsurprisingly. Unfortunately, at that moment, it meant I could hear a violent, high-pitched scream of a young woman with perfect clarity. In my panic, I thought the voice sounded wrong, but there wasn't time to question it.

{You will talk, Aftran 942. You will tell me everything. And then you will die!}

There wasn't much time left to save them. And I wasn't sure that I could even do it. The morph finished, I charged.

"Hhhrrrreeeyyaaahhhh!"

"Andalite Bandit!"

The controllers, Visser Three, they all knew now I was here. I plowed forward, throwing human-controllers to the side as I ran. Screaming my thought speak at Rachel and Aftran, I continued my charge forward.

{RACHEL! AFTRAN! Hold on! I'm coming for you both!}

* * *

Rose Tyler

Rose had never been tortured. Been hurt, injured, yes. It was part of the hazards of traveling with the Doctor. But this was a new level of pain. Her head was throbbing where the blue, centaur looking alien who called himself Visser Three had forced into the Yeerk he called Aftran into her ear. And into her brain. And Aftran, now controlled her body, Rose realized. She was no more than a puppet. But she still felt the pain when Visser Three sliced a layer of her skin off her arm with his bladed tail.

{You will tell me everything!}

Rose heard him bellow… but without speaking. Without a mouth, he was using some sort of psychic effect to enter her brain and communicate.

A cry of pain escaped Rose's mouth as the Visser Three's cut her again, this time across her face. Then, without warning, she saw flashes of her own memories. Her journeys with the Doctor, her mother, the TARDIS all flashed inside her mind. Why? She wasn't going to die here. Rose knew that together, she and the Doctor could work their way out of any situation. Then she realized. The Yeerk, Aftran they called her, was not only controlling her body, but could see her thoughts and memories as well.

{Rose Tyler}.

A shaking voice (thought? How did it work?) inside her head spoke.

{Aftran?}

Rose wasn't sure how this worked. But clearly she could communicate with the alien in her head. But could they hear her? All the others? Like how the one called Visser Three seemed to be heard by all?

{They cannot hear your thoughts. Only I can. But Rose, we must endure this. They cannot know what you've seen. Or what you know. They will use it to destroy this planet, and the universe.}

Rose thought she could hear defeat in Aftran's "voice", and it scared her. But she knew she had to be strong for both of them now. Aftran may have her memories, but she didn't know the Doctor like Rose did.

{There might be a way! Don't give up yet! There has to be. The Doctor is here somewhere, and between the three of us, we'll think of something to get out of this. Don't you give up yet!}

{We cannot say anything. I've seen your memories… and it would be my honor to… die with someone as brave as you}.

Before Rose could respond, tell Aftran that there wouldn't be any dying here today, Visser Three's bladed tail sliced her forehead, cutting deep to the bone. Rose, Aftran, both of them, screamed in pain.

{You will talk, Aftran 942. And then you will die!}

Rose felt Aftran close her eyes, and she could see nothing.

{Aftran, listen to me! Don't give up! There's a way out of this, I know the Doctor, and I know me… we'll survive, I promise you!}

"Hhhrrrreeeyyaaahhhh!"

Aftran opened their eyes wide open in shock, and Rose felt a surge of hope coming from the Yeerk.

{RACHEL! AFTRAN! Hold on! I'm coming for you both!}

{What is-}

Rose could barely get the thought out before Aftran interrupted her.

{Cassie! She's come to save us! The Animorphs are here!}

{Who?}

{ANDALITE FILTH!}

Another loud noise trumpeted into the air… an elephant? Rose was confused, but Aftran's sudden surge of hope was contagious. And Rose could see that Visser Three looked almost… nervous, despite having no mouth. Whatever, whoever had made that noise had made him afraid. Aftran turned her head, and they saw an elephant stampeding towards them, flinging humans aside with its trunk and tusks. Maybe they were-

{YOU WILL STOP OR THEY WILL DIE!}

Rose froze. Faster than she could see, Visser Three's tail blade had whipped around, and was pressed against her throat. From the blood pouring down the other wounds he had inflicted, she could tell exactly how deadly it would be if he so much as twitched it forward.

{SURRENDER, OR YOUR FELLOW BANDIT'S HEAD WILL ROLL!}

The elephant (an Andalite? Or an Animorph? What was the difference?) came to a halt a ways away from them.

{Aftran… I know you can't respond. The girl, I don't know who she is… But I don't want to see her die. I have help, a man who calls himself the Doctor… he might be able to save us. But if not... I don't know what to do… I'm sorry…}

{The Doctor is here?!}

Rose felt a surge of relief. If she were in control of her own body, she would have smiled, even with the bladed tail still pressed against her throat.

{Course he's not getting here til the last second. I'm going to kill him when we get out this.}

{From what I've seen of your memories of the Doctor… Rose, we might have a chance. I hope he doesn't underestimate the Visser…}

{Aftran, I have a feeling that the Visser is about to underestimate him.}

* * *

The Doctor

Yeerk security was remarkably easy to get through. The Doctor supposed they weren't suspecting someone who looked human to walk around like they knew what they were doing. A quick sonic from the screwdriver got him right where he wanted to be.

In a control room above the pool, The Doctor could see the scene below easily. Aliens he thought might be those tree guardians from… whatever that planet was… surrounded an African elephant, which he assumed was the Animorph Cassie.

"Fascinating, that they exist in this universe too. Wonder why them and not others that I recognize… I suppose that's not quite important."

What was important was the alien who called himself Visser Three currently had a very sharp looking tail pressed against Rose's throat. The Doctor got to work.

"Well then, you're making a rather bad first impression on me, uh, Visser Three, was it?"

His quick adjustment with the sonic screwdriver had allowed him to echo his voice over loudspeakers throughout the cavern easily. The Doctor saw the blue-furred alien with no mouth (How did he eat? Oh, that is fascinating) flinch upon hearing him.

{WHO DARES?! WHO DARES ADDRESS ME IN A SUCH A WAY?!}

"Introductions are in order I suppose, I'm the Doctor, and that is my friend Rose Tyler you have down there. Which is making you look very, very bad in my eyes. "

The Doctor's voice was not harsh, but it was certainly threatening. Anger echoed through every syllable, despite his tone being fairly cheerful. He hoped this would be resolved peacefully, but every second he surveyed the scene below him, the victims of the Yeerks held in cages, begging and crying, only made him more enraged.

{What kind of coward makes such weak threats without showing himself!? Surrender, or I'll separate this "Rose Tyler's" head from her body!}

"Ah, well, I don't think you will. Because you see, I am very, very clever. And I've figure out how to control most of the technology you've got running this little enterprise you've built for yourselves down here."

It was not an idle threat. A quick scan of the computers had told the Doctor everything he could possibly want to know about the Yeerk's technology and how it worked. A quick adjustment with his screwdriver and the lights around the cavern began to flicker as a demonstration. First one area dim then brighten. Then the Doctor did the same for 3 more areas around the pool.

{Someone find this scum! Quickly!}

The Visser, whoever he was, did not sound particularly calm at this point, and the Doctor knew his point had been made. Then, he heard Cassie's voice in his head.

{Doctor, wherever you are, be careful! Visser Three may prefer to catch us alive, but he'll settle for having us killed if he thinks he has no other choice!}

Oh, the Doctor knew that. From the moment he set eyes on this place, he knew that the people running it had no problems sacrificing their pawns to achieve their goals. However, in his experience, the Doctor knew that the people who will sacrifice their pawns so easily usually don't feel quite the same about sacrificing themselves.

"Right, well then. Now that I've made my point clear… "

His amplified voice echoed through the caverns again. The Visser was not happy, he could see, but both Rose and Cassie appeared to be just fine for now.

"Here is what is going to happen. You are going to let my friend Rose go. And the Yeerk in her head. And that elephant as well. This is your one warning. You are going to let us walk out of here. And then you are going to tell the…"

In his scan of the computers, he had seen a lot of things about the Yeerks and their Empire. Which meant the Doctor knew exactly what threats to make.

"…Council of Thirteen, is it? Your bosses? Tell them that the Yeerk Empire ends today. No more slaves. No more war. You are to leave this planet peacefully, and all the other planets you have enslaved as well."

The Visser's laugh rang out. The laugh of trapped person who had no idea just how outmatched he was.

{What makes you think I would ever even consider such a ridiculous demand! I have all the power here!}

The Doctor did not laugh. His voice had lost all of its fake cheerfulness now.

"Because I am the Doctor, of the planet Gallifrey, last of the Time Lords, and the nightmare that has haunted the dreams of empires far greater than yours for over 900 years. And if you do not let my friends and I go, I will send a signal to your leaders myself. Telling them I have destroyed your Kandrona sources for this planet. I will be very convincing."

He paused, allowing his words to sink in.

"I don't need to sacrifice hundreds of your people. Given your previous failures on this planet, I imagine they will believe the message, and be quite angry with you for that. They're already quite angry, you see. I'm not sure they will wait to find out the truth for themselves."

It was plain on the Visser's face that he had realized The Doctor's threats were not idle.

"The Yeerk Empire's reign of terror through this universe ends today. Or it will learn what hundreds of empires before them have learned- I am not a force you can withstand."

The tension in the air… it was like electricity. No one moved. No one so much as twitched. The Doctor could feel the rage emanating from Visser Three… and the fear. He knew for sure then, what he had expected was true: that there would be more of fight after this, once his friends were safe. The Visser would not hold up the entire end of this bargain. For now thought, Rose and Cassie were the priority.

Visser Three lowered his tail blade.

{Andalite scum… Get out of my sight…}

The Doctor saw Rose begin to walk towards the elephant that was Cassie. She was moving slowly, clearly still unsure if she would truly be allowed to escape. The crowd parted around her, afraid to accidentally harm her and bring wrath down upon them. The Doctor felt that it was perhaps the Visser Three's wrath, and not his own, that they were more afraid of incurring. He would have to remember that.

He saw the elephant bend down and manage to get low enough that Rose was able to gingerly climb up and sit astride its back. Cassie then cautiously began to walk towards a stairwell at the far side of the cavern.

"Right. Rose Tyler, I will meet you on the surface. And Visser-"

{I will destroy you, whoever you may claim to be. This is not your victory. You will regret this d-}

"Right, right. I've heard it all before. In the meantime, however, you should know I've sent out a mild interference signal in the area. Your security systems for the pool are all down. Security cameras, hunter robots, bio filters, all of it."

The Doctor did one last tweak with his screwdriver and large image was projected on the farthest wall of the cavern. It showed a clock, counting down from 2 minutes.

"When I have left here, I will turn off the countdown for the self-destruct I just activated. If I don't make it out, well…"

He left that part hanging. It was a bluff, of course, the Doctor would never blow the place up with that many innocents held here. But he knew it was not a risk the Yeerks would be willing to take.

"And Visser… I'll be watching."

He knew that Visser Three would not hold up the entirety of the bargain. But judging by the fear in his eyes, the Doctor knew he left an impression the Yeerks would not soon forget. And that alone might be enough to bring about an end to this conflict.

One last look out the windows told the Doctor that Rose and Cassie were making their way up the stairs without trouble. He noticed that though Cassie was slowly making herself much smaller, she was still unrecognizable as a human. The Doctor flipped his sonic screwdriver in his hands, and tucked it safely in his pocket. With that, he made his way out of the control room, ready to make his way out of there and see Rose Tyler safe and sound again.

* * *

Cassie

"We've got to hurry," Aftran said through Rose's voice. Another British accent, apparently.

"Visser Three's patience will not last for long."

{Yes, I know. And my friend Ax is sick. I need to get back to him as quickly as possible, before he…}

My thoughts trailed off. We were climbing the stairs out of the Yeerk pool. We were getting out… and now I would have to find a way to save Ax before the gland in his head burst and killed him. If it hadn't already. There had to be a way. We had just escaped a Yeerk pool without injury; save for a few deep cuts on Rose that I was now able to see with human eyes.

I finished my morph back in to my human body, and turned to Rose Tyler's body, with Aftran inside.

"Rose, Aftran, would you like me to bandage those wounds? I can tear something of your clothes and make something-"

"Rose and I both agree that it's best we get out of this place first."

I thought that might a good answer. I was in quite a hurry to get out of there too. We reached the top of the steps, and open the door. We walked through the refrigerator, and true to the Doctor's word, no alarm sounded.

"You should pull your hood over your head. Cover the cuts as best you can. People will look at us strangely if they see you bleeding everywhere"

Aftran (or Rose?) nodded. She pulled the hood of her jacket around her face as best she could, and we walked out into the fast food restaurant. And out the door, still walking. No one even looked up to see who we were.

I had never walked out of a Yeerk pool before. It was… unsettling, as we stood in the parking lot. I didn't know how to react. We would have to leave, but Rose couldn't morph, so it looked like walking was our only choice. Or running. Ax didn't have much time.

"Thank you," said Rose/Aftran. "From both of us. We were in quite a bit of trouble back there."

"Now, Rose Tyler, did you ever doubt I would come and save the day?"

Behind us, the Doctor had appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. Rose looked overjoyed, and threw her arms around him. I silently thanked Aftran for allowing the girl to have control of her body back.

"Doctor!"

He smiled, and hugged her back so warmly. It felt good, seeing them reunited. They cared for each other very deeply, that much was obvious. Rose then took a step back, and looked angry, but I could tell it was not too serious.

"What the bloody hell took you so long, huh? Cutting it awful close down there!"

She smiled though, and I knew she was just happy to see him. But I needed to interrupt. Because Ax's clock was still ticking.

"Thank you, Doctor, for all your help, but I need to go save my friend. If there's anyway I can return the favor, please let me know. You can find me throw Mr. Tidwell. He knows me. Aftran, can you-"

"Right!" the Doctor said cheerfully. "We don't have much time. Well, actually, we have lots of time. Well, we don't have much time, but we can go get more time."

I was confused, and my face must have shown it, because the Doctor and Rose both smiled then.

"Didn't I tell you I have a time machine?"

The Doctor grinned, and I realized what he was telling me. We could go to before Ax's fever reaches the maximum temperature. And be ready to perform the surgery when it did. A huge swell of relief rolled over me. Ax would survive. We could do this. Find him at a moment when his illness was not dangerous, and have Aftran go in and find the information we need… Or ask Ax himself before the illness even set in! We could do this! We could save everyone.

"Let's go, Doctor," said Rose. "Where did you leave the TARDIS this time?"

"Not far, Rose Tyler!"

The Doctor smiled at her, and I could see relief written all over his face. He walked up to a car in the parking lot, and pointed his… screwdriver (I don't think I'll ever get used to calling it that) at it, unlocking the doors and starting the engine. He opened the door and Rose slid into the driver's seat. I followed, and opened the door to the backseat, and climbed in.

"You look a bit young to have your license, yeah?" said Rose, "So I figure I better drive."

The Doctor slid himself across the hood of the car, and opened the passenger door. Sitting down, he closed the door beside him, and looked positively gleeful.

"Allons-y Rose Tyler. I'll give directions as we go! The TARDIS is waiting."

It was as Rose pulled out of the parking lot that it hit me. I nearly stopped breathing.

He had a time machine. The Doctor had a time machine. We could fix everything. All the lives lost, all the years of war and suffering that Earth has been facing… we could undo it all. This was our chance to make sure that this war ended quickly and peaceful. I was afraid to even think it, let alone say it out loud until I was sure. But for the first time since the Andalite Prince Elfangor landed in the construction site, I felt like we could actually win this war.


End file.
